


you okay?

by orphan_account



Category: McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, M/M, Overstimulation, Parties, Sensory Overload, actually its not specified where they are thats your choice but i like to think its a party, im gonna regret tagging it that this fic is not nsfw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-10-28 15:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10833747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nick feels like he's drowning in an endless puddle of bright lights and static and the feeling that his skin is crawling, but Griffin is there to help him.edit as of 8/5/17: please read the second chapter





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> henlo everyone  
> when nick talked about being overstimulated on that podcast, i know he was talking about it in a somwhat positive way, but i wanted to write about overstimulation a little bit more similar to the way that i experience it, which is very bad  
> anyways! please enjoy. its short sweet and it fucking sucks bc i didn't edit this oh well
> 
> also sorry for the dumb title im tired its been a long week

Nick felt like he was drowning, to put it somewhat lightly. The room smelled like alcohol and smoke and weed and it was filling his lungs and making it impossible for Nick to even attempt to clear them with a deep breath. The air felt like it was surrounding him, the lights were too bright, the room was too hot and stuffy, everyone was talking way too loud and he could feel their voices moving and writhing on his goosebump-covered skin. He needed to get out, he needed to breathe, his clothes were suffocating him and he wanted to be somewhere quiet where he could be alone and just breathe. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins but it wasn’t the good kind and he could feel his hands shaking but they weren’t a real part of his body. Sounds were coming out of people’s mouths around him but it just sounded like static from a pair of broken headphones, and he couldn’t breathe, he was choking on his own tongue-

“Nick? Hey, man, Nick, are you okay? Nick!” Griffin’s hand was waving gently in front of Nick’s face, trying to grab his attention from whatever invisible monster was holding it captive. “Do you want me to get you some water?” He reached out to touch Nick’s still-quivering hand, but Nick involuntarily jerked it away.

“D-don’t touch me,” he spit out, sounding harsher than he meant to be. “Sorry. Please, don’t touch me. Can we go outside?” Griffin nodded, a concerned look spreading across his face as he led Nick to the nearest exit outside. The cool, crisp night air pressing against his flushed cheeks seemed like the best thing Nick had ever felt as he finally left that cramped room and slumped onto a rickety bench.

“What happened in there?” Griffin asked softly, sitting next to Nick but still making sure he had his space.

“Nothing, I’m fine,” Nick lied, holding tears in his eyes and doing a terrible job at looking like he was fine.

“You’re obviously not,” replied Griffin, furrowing his brows and sighing. “You can tell me anything, don’t worry about it.”

“I just get- overstimulated, I guess? It’s called sensory overload and in situations like crowds and parties and busy stores I feel sick to my stomach and my skin starts itching and my mind feels like one big error message or the ‘sorry, your storage is full!’ pop-up on an iPhone and I just kind of shut down. I can’t concentrate and I start shaking and I don’t hear anything, really. It happens sometimes with certain feelings like when I need a haircut and I can feel my wet hair on the back of my neck, or when I’m wearing stiff t-shirts, or when I touch old splintery wood, or when people hug me. It’s not as bad, but it’s the same kind of disgusting, sticky feeling. Makes me want to tear my skin off.” Nick shuddered, barely enough to notice, but it was still there. “It hasn’t happened as bad as it was in there for a long time. The last time was at least a couple of years ago, back when I was in college.”

Griffin nodded, not completely sure what to say, but Nick was sure that he meant well. Just the simple gesture of asking if he was alright made him feel a million times better.

“Anything else I can do to help you? I really want you to be okay.” Griffin asked.

“At this point I think I’m almost alright. I’m just gonna sit out here for a bit and try to recover. I might end up leaving early, actually.” he exhaled, kicking his feet back and forth on the uneven cement ground that the bench teetered on. “Just hearing your voice makes me feel better.”  
Griffin blushed at Nick’s comment, flashing his friend a soft, barely-there smile.

“I’ll always try to help you when you feel this way when we’re together, got it? Even when we aren’t, you can always call or text me or something like that and I’ll try to talk you through.”

Nick nodded and reached over to squeeze Griffin’s hand.  
“Got it.”


	2. yikes

uhh hi everyone. with everything that's happened with nick over the past few days, i just wanted to say that this whole situation sucks and i don't feel comfortable keeping this fic up without a notice that i do not support his actions in any way. i'm going to keep this fic and the other shipboys one i've written up for the time being, but they might be deleted later. sorry guys.


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